Chapter 1
"Colonel Russell!" a young voice called out, rushing into the office. "Colonel Russell! He's back!"
The old dog looked over his glasses to see the moose waving a piece of paper over his antlers as he skidded to a stop in front of the desk. "Now, what on earth are you going on about, Clyde?"
Clyde slammed down the sheet of paper so that Russell could read it as he explained, "Fulton, over at the bar, just noticed him over there. Do you want me to round up the boys?"
Russell shook his head, pulling off his glasses. "There's only been one person that's ever been able to get that bear in jail, and you boys an't him. If this low life's back in town then he'll stay here for a while. We're about to have a blizzard that's going to cut off the roads."
"Then what are we s'posed to do, then?" Clyde asked, stumped. "We can't just have a criminal in our town."
"Yes we can." Russell smiled. "Close down the roads and tracks, tell the airport to tell everyone else we're snowed in and can't go nowhere."
Clyde crossed his arms over his chest. "But sir, if I get the men together now we d-"
"You'll find yourselves either lost in White Woods or drowning in Youngens Gorge." Russell cut off, standing up. He shook his head before explaining, "I went after him with a group of our finest and that's where we ended up. Yes'sir'e. Now you just go ahead and do what I told you. I'll call him up here."
Clyde turned to leave only to stop for a moment as he realized something. "Uh, who, sir? And wouldn't that block him from getting in, too?"
"He'll make it." Russell nodded. "Ozzie always gets his man."
-.-.-.-
"Ozzie, you in here?" Mickey asked, leaning his head out the door to the garage only to smile as he noticed black feet poking out from under a silver contraption.
"Ya, give me a sec." Oswald's voice called out.
Mickey walked in the garage, not surprised to see his older brother tinkering away on something. "What are you building?"
Oswald pushed himself out from under the mettle body and sat up, wiping his brow. "A mechanical horse." the rabbit admitted.
"That's what cars are, you know." Mickey smiled as he stopped next to the head that sat on the work bench.
"Ha ha." Oswald rolled his eyes before standing up. He sat the wrench down next to the head and explained, "Walt got me into mechanical creatures back when I worked with him, so I figured why not see if I can expand on that. Definitely now since I can use modern day tech."
"Oswald, there's a call for you." Ortensia said before sticking her head into the garage to see the two. "It's from Colonel Russell."
"Russell?" Oswald asked, surprised. He waved at Mickey to follow him as he lead back into the house and to the hallway phone.
"Who's Colonel Russell?" Mickey asked Ortensia as the rabbit took up the phone.
Ortensia's nose rose as she tried to think only for it to come to her, "He was Oswald's commander when he was in the Mountie Police."
"He was in the Mountie Police?" Mickey asked, surprised.
"Ya, Walt wanted to do a short about Oswald working for them, and you know how Walt was." Ortensia said, it all coming back to her.
Mickey nodded, remembering the man well. "Ya, so he got Oswald into actually being in the force."
"Ya, so while Oswald was learning for his part he became good friends with his commander, who was only a Captain when Oswald worked with him." Ortensia explained. "I wonder why the old dog would want to talk to him now?"
"Well, he did just come back." Mickey pointed out, knowing the cat didn't really need to be reminded of that fact. "Maybe they just found out and the Colonel wanted to talk to him?"
"Maw! Oswald Junior 345's picking on me!" a voice cried out from the living room.
"Oh dear, I better go see what's going on." Ortensia shook her head as she headed into the living room, leaving Mickey to turn to the rabbit still on the phone.
"Sure, ya I'll help." Oswald was saying, his brows increasing. "Alright, I'll be seein' you then. Bye." Oswald hung up.
"Is everything alright?" Mickey asked.
"Not really." Oswald shrugged, turning to the mouse. "You remember Putrid Pete, right?"
"How could I forget, that guy's worst then the Pete I had to deal with back in the 30s." Mickey admitted, "He tried to actually kill you and your family*."
"Well, when I came back we just assumed that Ortensia and the kids came back because they're my family." Oswald explained, leaning against the hall wall with his hands in his pockets as his ears started to droop. "I know Ortensia's been wondering about her Pop and brother, but we never saw them in Wasteland, so we never found out what happened to them. I just found out where they are."
"What's happened?" Ortensia asked, worry on her face as she walked out of the living room.
"Well, good news." Oswald started, his ears popping upwards. "Your father and brother both are in the cartoon world."
"And the bad news?" Ortensia asked, her tail lashing.
"Putrid Pete's kidnapped them." Oswald said, his ears going down again. "Colonel Russell was calling to ask if I could get up there to help them capture Pete when he found out that Pete had them."
"Then we need to get going." Mickey stated.
"We?" Oswald asked, surprised as he pushed away from the wall. "Mick?"
"You're family, so your family is my family." Mickey pointed out.
"Thanks Mickey." Oswald smiled at his brother's devotion. "Ok, so maybe you can help me figure this out. They've closed off the town to prevent him from trying to escape. How do we get in?"
"Oh, that's easy." Mickey threw off, heading towards the door. "Let me take Pluto over to Minnie's and I'll meet you at the airfield."
-.-.-.-
"Alright Mick, what's you're brilliant idea?" Oswald asked as he walked over to a mouse wearing a flight helmet and scarf as he was checking out a plane.
Mickey turned away from his checking only to stop at the sight of his brother standing there in his Mountie police uniform. "You still have that thing?" Mickey asked, surprised it survived more than eighty years.
"No, this one's the one they sent me when I moved back to the cartoon world." Oswald admitted. "I think Russell was always aiming to get me back on the force. So how're we going to get into a closed off town?"
"This." Mickey presented the plane he'd been inspecting. "I know it's a bit old, but she still flies like she did new."
"There's only two seats, who's going to fly it?" Oswald asked, noticing the seats were open air cockpits.
"Me, you crazy rabbit." Mickey laughed. "I've been flying for some time now and have had to makes some impossible landings with this thing."
"If you say so." Oswald raised a brow only to smile. "Come on, we better get going. As much as Mr. Whiskers and Homer don't like me, I'd lose my tail if they got hurt."
*my take on Epic Mickey 3: Pete's Revenge has Putrid Pete emerge from the shadows and with the help of all the other Pete's captures Ortensia and the children and wants to destroy them in thinner when Oswald offers himself instead.